Angel Rache has so many ailments including a curved spine and a brain tumor. She not only sees marihuana as life saving medicine, she knows what kind of pot to smoke for what hurts.
"After I medicate with it, the muscles and ... and ligaments around my spine and my joints have tendency to, kind of, relax."
So, Angel and another California patient, Dianne Monssen are asking to Supreme Court to decide which law has worse way. State law in California that permits the use of pot as medicine, for Federal law that bans pot as dagerous. The government's lawyer Paul Clement told the justices, 'Smoked marihuana has no future as a medicine. And, under the constitution Congress should control pot because production of marihuana has profound effect on interstate commerce.'
But, here is where the legal arguments got lively to determine if pot is part of interstate commerce. Several justices want to know about the market for marihuana, and what the California law might do to the price of pot. Justice John Paul Stevens wanted to know if prices would rise or fall. 'What's the impact of the market for medical marihuana', he asked. 'Trivial', answered Angel Rache's lawyer Randy Barnet. He's arguing that most medical marihuana will be home grown. That the state has approved, and the Fed's should butt out.
"The idea here is that the existence of states and states' laws protects liberty. In this case, it's the liberty of people to use medical Canada's."
Angel Rache, meanwhile, was outside the court. Trembling, she said because she hadn't smoke during the arguments.
"You can actually see my physical body already changing."
Rache's lawyers are hoping that the states' rights argument will appeal to the court's conservatives. But, the administration believes she's ... child for a bad drug. The government says beyond helping just handful of patients medical marihuana is the backdoor to legalization.